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Airport train link nears

Environmental concerns could seal the deal for new track

IRWIN BLOCK
The Gazette
Friday, April 4, 2008

A dedicated train link between the airport and downtown has been talked about for years, but concern about the environment is what's going to make the project finally happen, airport boss James Cherry predicted yesterday.

All the agencies involved agree a shuttle train is needed to serve Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, but it's really the need to provide more efficient mass transit, so West Island commuters will leave their cars at home, that probably will seal the deal, said Cherry, president and chief executive officer of Aéroports de Montréal.

And although it is premature to talk of any dates, Cherry says, it couldn't happen soon enough.

"Traffic is getting worse (on Highway 20) every day, in both directions from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 at night," he told The Gazette editorial board in a review of issues affecting the airport.

This congestion affects all West Island communities and only a dedicated passenger rail link to downtown can solve it, he said.

CN and CP tracks are already in almost constant use, mostly for freight, so there must be a new passenger-train corridor to be shared by Aéroports de Montréal, the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, which runs commuter trains, and Via Rail.

Building such a line would cost $250 million to $400 million, but would be a viable investment if it is shared by all three agencies, Cherry said.

The good news is that, though the funding is not committed, all agree it's a good idea.

Studies on the traffic potential, cost and a financial structure for the dedicated line are under way and are expected to be made public in the fall, Cherry said.

Plans to complete direct road access from Highway 20 to the airport by 2011, bypassing the congested Dorval Circle, will do little to ease traffic jams, he said.

"All this is going to do is that drivers will be able to get out of the airport quicker," he said - but they'll still be caught in highway traffic going downtown.

Cherry said he'd like to see a light train to shuttle passengers to and from the airport every 20 or 30 minutes. Such a shuttle would consist of two to four cars, he said. His preference is for it to depart from Central Station.

Many travellers complain about long delays in reaching or leaving the airport.

Public-transit expert Ahmed El-Geneidy, a McGill University urban-planning professor, told The Gazette this year of his experience waiting 90 minutes for a taxi in a line that snaked around the airport.

Others experts note that if fewer people drive to airports, it frees parking lots for more productive uses like hotels or malls.

David Hanna, director of graduate studies in urban studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal, has said it was "astounding" that when air traffic was shifted to Dorval from Mirabel, "no public-transit plan was put in place."